Healthcare entities would like to know which patients are likely to pay their bills (patient financial responsibility) and which are not likely to pay. Those deemed not able to pay will receive the same treatment as other patients, but the earlier their need is identified the sooner that the healthcare facility can get the patient into financial counseling or enrolled in an appropriate Medicaid, charity care or grant program. Also, if a patient is not likely to pay and they are not eligible for charity programs, then a healthcare facility can choose to expend fewer resources trying to collect and therefore save money.
There have been attempts to predict a patient's ability to pay using conventional “generic” credit scores, but these have met limited success. This is because each healthcare facility's patient population differs from others and a generic credit score model is insufficient to accurately predict the outcomes. A generic credit score is often too general a predictor since it treats all patient segments the same.